Page 105 of Shattered & Returned

“Always so theatrical,” Zeus scoffed. “You’re no poet, brother. And poets are just losers anyway.”

Rage beat in me.

“Your fixation has destroyed you both,” he continued. “How many deaths has she endured? How much more suffering because you refuse to let her go? And each time she’s gone, you’re more broken. I’ve watched it all from my throne in Olympus, your grief devouring you whole.”

I dragged in a ragged breath. Zeus’s gaze cut through me, laying bare every wound, every ounce of grief and self-loathing. His lips curved in grim satisfaction.

“I take no pleasure in watching you stay on the course of self-destruction,” he lectured. “Love is the universe’s cruelest weapon. To see what it’s reduced you to…” He shook his head. “I’ve waited eons for you to understand and learn the hard lesson. Now that you finally do, I’ll offer this once more: a way out. For both of you.”

“Can you lift the Moirai’s curse?” I pleaded. “That’s why I came.”

He massaged his temples like I was a headache made flesh. “The curse is unbreakable. You know the terms.” My growl rolled over him, ignored. He leaned forward, throne creaking, eyes blazing as if his stare alone could bend me to his will. “Persephone was weak even as a goddess. As a mortal?” A humorless laugh. “A Viking queen in the eighth century. A silver-tongued socialite. Every lifetime, she fails. Every chance, she falters. You’ve seen it. Felt it. And it breaks you each time.”

I clenched my fists, resisting the urge to lunge at him and punch his golden teeth out. There would be blood, just not yet. Not until the Moirai showed up and this farce of a negotiation ended.

“She never stood a chance because your goons slaughtered her every time before she could remember,” I spat. The curse demanded her sacrifice, not mine. I was powerless to fight it. Only she could—if she ever awoke.

“Enough excuses!” Zeus cut in. “The Fates are cruel, but time is crueler. You, of all gods, know mortality’s curse. Death comes for all. Persephone is doomed. When she fails this time, and she will, she’ll be unmade. Erased forever.” He leaned forward, voice dropping to a false whisper of concern. “Here I offer you both one last chance. Make the right choice. Renounce her. Sever thebond. Let her go, and all the realms will forget she was ever queen of the Underworld. We can undo millennia of suffering. Choose any goddess—any but her—and you’ll have a queen worthy of your throne. They’re stronger than her. More refined. Eager to share your bed and crown. What say you, brother?”

The tempting offer slithered through my thoughts like the snake from Eden. I’d almost taken it once to end my queen’s pain. But it was poison disguised as mercy.

What was immortality without fire? A sweet life with material abundance and no true passion was but a gilded cage. A hollow throne. A rot of soul. I could survive as a wraith of a god, but I wouldn’t condemn her to that half-life—existing without love, without feeling, withouther.

No. We would fight. We would bleed. We’d endure together, and we’d turn the tide.

“Fuck you, no brother of mine,” I snarled. “Fuck your stupid deal!”

Zeus sighed like a martyr. “Must we repeat this vulgarity, insults, and ingratitude? I won’t give up on you, even when you insist on self-destruction. Family is forever, brother.” His eyes flickered with false concern. “Speaking of destruction…how is Forsaken Academy faring?” He already knew. His spies—Stardust and that traitor Poseidon, who posed as Professor Kingsley—fed him every detail. “The Wild Hunt prowls earlier this year. I’ve wondered what stirred them. Have you noticed the shift in the air, as others have?” A deliberate pause. “Poseidon mentioned your walls straining beneath the weight of so many…guests.”

This fucker talked so leisurely as if his minions hunting Persephone were nothing more than sport. And now he was probing, either he’d sensed the shift himself, or the Moirai had whispered in his ear. My heart stuttered, cold with dread. More eyes would train on my mate. More gods would join the hunt.

Then a sudden icy clarity struck me.

Zeus had felt the shift. That was why he’d summoned me under the pretense of negotiation. For all his taunts about my mate’s inevitable failure, doubt had crept in. For the first time, he wasn’t sure.

Bloom wasn’t like her other mortal versions, the ones who had perished before. Physically, she was the most vulnerable. Asthma clawed at her lungs, and a weak heart lurked in her chest. Morrigan had checked on her in secret.

But her will? Unbreakable. A warrior’s spirit burned inside her. This time, she wasn’t running from the truth—she was hunting it. She tore into the investigation of the redheaded victims with determined fury, though she hadn’t yet realized they were allher, echoes from different eras. When that truth hit, it would shatter everything. She’d have to question who, orwhat,she truly was. And that would be revolutionary. A final breakthrough.

Something had awakened in her. She dreamed of her former selves’ deaths, visions none of her other versions had ever glimpsed. None of them had lived long enough to piece it together.

And she trusted me enough to confess those nightmares, not yet understanding that the memories of her past lives were bleeding into her dreams. It gutted me, knowing her sleep was haunted by those brutal murders. But it also kindled something fiercer than hope.

She would survive this time.

She hadto.

She’d rise to the occasion, and I’d carve my soul to ribbons to make sure she did.

Even if Icouldbreak the blood vow and force the truth on her, it would only doom her. We’d tried, and it had backfired. This time, failure meant annihilation. So I’d ordered my teamto stay silent, no matter how it gutted them to watch Bloom stumble in the dark.

I still remembered 1890. Morrigan had cracked, just once, and whispered to Annie, one of Persephone’s past selves, that she was the Underworld’s queen. The last Moirai sister came herself that night. She slaughtered Annie in front of us, and we stood there, powerless.

I didn’t forgive Morrigan for a long time. Good intentions meant nothing when her slip had cost my mate another life, another chance. If not for her unshakable loyalty, I would’ve killed the siren princess for that.

“Your gangs started the Wild Hunt,” I snarled. “Your city thrives at the expense of my mate. You enjoy your peace because the gods have found new entertainment, turning my woman into their bloodsport. When this curse ends, I’ll slaughter every last one who ever harmed her. Even their ashes won’t be safe.” My lips peeled back from my fangs. “You should visit my academy. See what decorates the walls. Pity the gods leave no corpses, just their monsters.”

Zeus spread his hands in mock helplessness. “I cannot control every rogue god and quench their thirst for blood and flame. Stop blaming others. Your obsession with Persephone put you in this situation, not I.” He shrugged. “And technically, Hecate runs your academy.”

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